Biological monitoring of the growth of cells has applications in fields such as microbiology and medicine. Methods for detecting the growth of microorganisms are well-developed in microbiology laboratories; however, such techniques cannot always be easily applied to real-world situations. For example, isolation and identification of an unknown microorganism can be difficult and time-consuming, particularly when the microorganism is not suited to growth under typical laboratory conditions.
In some cases it is important to study a microorganism in its natural or adopted environment. For example, bioremediation is a recent approach to decontamination of polluted land, water and marine sites, in which microorganisms can be used to remove or destroy contaminants in situ. While bioremediation has been demonstrated to work in some cases, it is often difficult to predict which microorganisms will be most useful at a given site, or which conditions will most effectively promote the bioremediation process. Without considerable information about the types of pollutants and indigenous microbes present at a contaminated site, the selection of appropriate bioremediation conditions is difficult. Unfortunately, due to the relatively inaccessible nature of some contaminated sites (for example, underground water), obtaining such information can be difficult. Conventional sampling and testing can be labor-intensive and time consuming.
The inability to easily and rapidly obtain accurate sampling information also hinders efforts to discover novel microorganisms or natural products, a process often referred to as bioprospecting. Bioprospecting frequently involves searching for organisms in inhospitable or inaccessible environments, such as hot springs, black smokers, deep ocean, and other locales having extreme physical or chemical conditions. However, without adequate means for obtaining complete information about the prevailing conditions and microbial communities in these areas, bioprospecting efforts can be slow and difficult.
While many approaches to these problems have been proposed, few methods have been developed which are rapid, inexpensive, and easily customized for the study of a wide variety of microorganism types and environments.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,187,530 discloses an aquatic autosampler having multiple filters; the device can serially gather samples of microorganisms by exposing one filter at a time to a water sample. However, the device cannot simultaneously collect multiple samples.
PCT Patent Publication WO 2004/081530 discloses an in situ microcosm array (ISMA) technology suitable for environmental monitoring and bioprospecting. The contents of that application are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety.
Once a sample for study has been obtained, there is a need for rapid and sensitive identification of compounds and microorganisms present in the sample. While many approaches to this problem have been suggested, few methods are capable of detecting species of interest without extensive sample clean-up and purification steps, which can be time-consuming and expensive.